1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to board games and more particularly to a "Catena" board game in which players connect three or more card pieces in a straight line horizontally, vertically or diagonally to score points.
2. The Prior Art
At the present time there are a large variety of games involving numbered cards or blocks. For example, one type of game using numbered blocks is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 550,584 to Bristow wherein forty blocks are arranged in four suits of ten blocks each, each suit bearing numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0, with "1" being low and "0" being high. The game is played by laying down three or more blocks of either the same number, for example "666," or consecutive numbers of the same color, for example, "1234."
In Otuzbiryan U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,682, a card game uses a conventional deck of cards with the numbered cards 2-6 removed and one joker added as a wild card. Each card has an assigned value which is scored only when combined with other cards of the same suit (as in a flush) or with other cards of the same kind (as in three jacks). The object of the game is for each player to select three or four cards dealt in a turn in order to come up with the highest point value for the turn.
The Seelbrede et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,987 shows a board game using cards and pegs. The game board is square, with each of the four sides of the board having a different color corresponding to a game player. Each card bears a letter of the alphabet and a color corresponding to a game player, four sets of twenty-six such letter cards of each color being used in the game. The game is played by placing pegs (of the color assigned to the particular player) into peg holes in the board corresponding to the color on a card drawn from the card deck. When a player fills the last available hole in any one of the four color areas of the board, he or she is permitted to use the cards he or she has drawn to spell words and to obtain points for the words spelled.
The Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 1,519,422 shows a football-type of board game using the face value of playing cards to determine how far the "football" moves on each play.
Other patents of general interest are Samuel Des. 57,994 and Field Des. 138,177 which show designs for playing cards, depicting a 4.times.13 grid with the suits arranged in columns and the cards in each suit arranged in rows.
Although at the present time there are a large variety of games involving numbered cards or blocks, there is still a need for a board game which is easy to learn and simple to play and which may be contained in a compact case which also serves as the playing board.